We made it through!

The TEAM:

Angus Morton and Patrick Drapac from Australia and Drapac Porsche Professional Cycling

Larry Warbasse and Chris Butler, BMC U23 Team

Alex Jarmin and Orion Berryman from Swami's Development Elite Team, San Diego

And Rouge cyclist Carson Miller

Plus of COURSE, our own favorite BMc

What did I do? haha well....I "managed" the team. This meant sitting near Axel Meryx in the managers meeting and trying not to sweat. I cooked dinner for 12-18 people a night, lined up some massages, made sure our killer mechanic Jason was availible for tune-ups and clean-ups each evening, set up ez-up and chairs and camp at each stage, made sure we had upwards of 60 bottles filled and ready to go and the list goes on. Had to have some chats with the chief officials, accidentally stole two Mavic neutral support wheels, and basically stressed out. The Breyers, Mark, Tine, Jason, the Mortons, Lanzas, Welsh and the list goes on and on, of people who really stepped up so I wouldn't literally jump into the middle of the peloton during the crit so I could just DIE. What a massive, yet amazing and rewarding undertaking!

This team came together as a dream of Brian's that most people just smiled and played along with. By mid February it was clear that it was gonna happen whether we liked it or not, so we better batten down the hatches and ride it like we stole it! I think we truly got the pick of the litter for our Composite team. With 7 Guest Riders, you never really know what could hit the fan. Coming from Australia, Gussy and Patty are some of the most unassuming, gracious, and well-rounded athletes I have come across. And they can throw down on the bike!

Chris and Larry came hot off of BMC pro training camp and ready to whet their appetite on the competition. Post Classic, Chris got the call up to race for BMC Professional team!

Our Swami's riders made the long trek from San Diego to ride with us. It was great having some local riders who we have seen at other events and at least gotten aquainted with a little bit.

And then there is Carson. This kid is nuts. Totally self-supported, rode for Land Rover last year and this year has no team, yet finished 37th on the Beaumont Stage and went toe-to-toe with other fully supported riders the entire weekend. Awesome.

Just look for the lungs!!

We had a hard time spotting the new jerseys. Until I realized they looked like lungs, and now I can see them everywhere! Here, Gussy with 18 year old little bro Lachlan Morton pre TT. Lachlan is a machine! He rode in the brake of 10 on the sunset race, on his junior gears! We will definately see more of these boys!!

Ack!! FEEDZONES!!!! Man, looking for and feeding 8 boys is stressful! Especially when I do not know then that well. I didn't know if they would flip a lid if I missed their feed, which bottles they really needed, and basically they came at me at mock 7. After one feed I swear my pinky finger was broken! Thankfully on Friday Matt Breyer was driving the follow car stocked with at least 20 bottles filled with goodness. Carson sent BMc back to the car to get 6 bottles! Welcome to the NRC baby!
The crit was really amazing. Living here in Redlands brings the added bonus of having a huge home-court advantage and extremely large support crew. Brian is a friend to EVERYONE so the corners were packed with cheerleaders! Meredith Lanza made the COOLEST tshirts for Destry, Joey and Jamie that all said "GO MCCULLOCH" and the crew could be found littered around the coures cheering. Although Destry did say "hey that's my blue shirt!" He wore it with pride!

If you have ever watched Brian race a crit, you can tell he is a natural. He can squirrel himself into the smallest of places, probably because he is small too, and his professional motorcross background really comes in handy! Brad Huff from Jelly Belly called him "Hot Route"! This stage was Brian's best performance of the weekend, finishing 77th and on the lead time! He came around turn 11 completely roached and holding on the every bit of sprint he could muster!

It was so awesome post race to have our little compound swarmed with friends! All the other teams were packing up and our rag-tag crew was high-fiving and giving hugs to everyone involved.

Autographs for Kailee!!Brian and Destry! Yup, he's drinking a coke! Yikes! Carson taught me a lot of manager tricks. Have a cooler wtih premade recovery drinks, cokes, and cold towels for after each stage. Money!

Sunday Sunday. Brian took the approach to race each and every stage like it was the last one EVER and there was no race the next day! getting to Sunday was a huge deal, for many reasons. Brian is a cat 2 racing against a field filled with mostly pro/cat1 racers who are paid to ride their bikes and have a lot of experience. This is Brian's first season as a 2, he works 40 hours plus a week, trains around 20 a week and a lot of it in the dark. This picture here is one I will keep forever! At the start of the stage, a few awards are given out. One of them being the Carol King Sportsmanship Award. Brian got it!! When Scott Welsh was giving his little speech, he had to stop because he was getting choked up! If you know Brian, you know he is very unassuming, hates the spotlight, and would give you his jersey, shoes, helmet and even bike if you really needed it. To recieve such an award, in front of your peers, mentors, roll models and friends, was really really amazing!!

Then, he had to go upfront again! Being a solid philanthropist, Brian, with the help of teammates Mitch Porche, Evan Trubee and everyone else, raised over $5,000 to give back to PossAbilities which will enable more disabled athletes to particate in really cool events!

Here is Orian, Gussy, Carson, and Patty D waiting for the start. The kits will grow on me...

Only the front group is let through on Sunday and onto the circuits downtown, so we had our whole team to chear and support Lachlan Mortan as he flew through the last 5 laps of the crit course!

So. Tired. Eating pizza at Gourmet Pizza with the Morton family, Carson, and Brian's fam.

This is what stage racing does to you!!

And what doesn't kill you or break you up, makes you stronger! haha!OH YES!!! So, there was this San Dimas Stage Race. I got 2nd in TT, 6th RR 2nd Crit 2nd GC and got my cat 2 upgrade. Yada yada yada.

Cynthia rocked it into a 5th GC and Andrea did SO GREAT in her first stage race! We even got flowers. awwwwww....

What's next?!?! some crits, too much work, maybe some travel to stage races, but probably not another blog for a bit. This was time consuming! ; )

I hate you Sea Otter Classic and your rampent spam mail!

Dear Sea Otter Classic Spammers,

NO I will not come to your "high-quality" camping zone with zero grass, no water hook ups, on the pavement.

NO I will not pay $75 to race a Short Track race that lasts 30 minutes against the world's finest Mountain Bike females only to be pulled from said event in 12 minutes. (That's a whopping $6.25 per minute)

NO I will not register for your Cross Country race because in fact we are now in the "Late Registration" phase becuase the non-late registration phase ENDED IN JANUARY!

NO I do NOT want to purchase poor quality racing photos of myself covered in sweat and dirt and spit from last year. I was second to last you re-tard because I hung out in the "woods" helping fallen warriors succumbed by the horrid heat. For a race I paid $85 for!

You usually send me an email around 8am or 11pm. This email blips up on my phone, and I get excited. I think that someone valuable, cool, exciting, has hit me up with some fantastic news of racing splendor, cycling t-shirts, or something pink. But no. You are once again pimping out Monterey, one of the most expensive, non-cyclist friendly "cities" I have ever raced in. It's like Disney (DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED) Where they charge you a car-payment of an entry fee and force you to eat $11.00 funnel cakes that in fact will make you fat.

So sorry, I'm not going to be able to make it. And no, I won't be racing a crit that weekend either.

But this weekend, I will be.

Happy racing my friends! Cheers to you heading to Bonelli, rock on and hit some jumps for me! I'm heading to the illustrious town of Murrieta for an Omnium Road Race. Crit one day, circuit race the next! Bring it!!

I know what I need. I know what I want. I want to go Kamikazi Biking!

Kamikazi Biking!

This youtube was sent to me by Jake, the owner of St.Helena Cyclery, where I worked as one of my first jobs post college. Totally hilarious! Makes me laugh for so many reasons!

So back to local crit news, Team Redlands was out in droves. It must have been the warm sunny weather and the fact that it is not April yet, but whatever the case, great to see the dudes. And Mark Foist, first race post pelvis fracture last year.

Dez and I jumped into the 40+ mens race, which turned into your regular Saturday ride, buffered with random Citrus Valley Dudes (they all look alike, sorry guys), Dez, me, Mark Love and Foist riding in circles together. At least I felt safe(r).

So I was lucky enough to stay up until 11pm Saturday night, playing basketball in the Student/Faculty game where I only got dunked on once, ran over twice, and twinged only one muscle in my back. Awesome. Our 1/2/3 elite womens crit was "Super-Sick" as Destry would say. I snuck into the 6-girl break and eeked out the sprint for a win. I behaved myself and rode as smart as I could, thinking, "what would Brian do?" (He was absent racing at Callville, oddly, my two wins since like June he has been....racing elsewhere...suspect) I did however have to REALLY focus and NOT just rail the giant puddles on the course...that would have been FUN and frowned upon.

The most exciting part was having so many supporters out around entire course! Our community is stellar and having cheerleaders from Citrus, Redlands, and PossAbilities was cool. Its always nice to know other people are vested in our success and the process we are going through!Back to the grind and feeling just about like this. Here's to another sunny Sunday on dry roads! I wonder if I should cut my sleeves and run the Bam-Bam look when the new kits come in...